Joe Diamond seeks knowledge

Hey guys! This is my first attempt at building a taboo-friendly deck and it's also my first attempt at building a Joe Diamond deck. The deck is meant to be played on Standard difficulty, but there's no particular reason why it wouldn't work on hard.

The deck has nothing really out of the ordinary other that we 're running Hallowed Mirror and Mr. "Rook". I think that both of these cards are very valuable for Joe Diamond. Hallowed Mirror is really good in a taboo-friendly Joe Diamond because without Higher Education some horror hits are inevitable (especially if you 're playing on hard) and it can give you more value from your allies (particularly Beat Cop (2)). It can also be used to heal damage from yourself or even help your allies. Mr. "Rook" is crazy good in Joe for the simple fact that Joe has one fewer weakness in his deck than other investigators. In this particular build, Mr. "Rook" is great to get your weapons faster and it synergizes incredibly well with Hallowed Mirror, as it can get you both that and the Soothing Melodies.

What's up with Strange Solution? It gets upgraded to Acidic Ichor of course! Joe is arguably the best Seeker to use it! Why? Because he has more combat options and he can support it better than other Seekers do. For Joe, this card basically acts like a 1-cost Lightning Gun that doesn't take up handslots! What else would you want? The difficult part here is how we get the identification. But the deck is equipped with options to get this issue covered: We 're packing lots of skill cards with icons. So throwing one of these or a combination of them when attempting to do the identification will do the job (even on hard).

UPGRADES

Mandatory (in order)

• Charisma

• 2x Beat Cop --> 2x Beat Cop (2)

• 2x Strange Solution --> 2x Strange Solution (Acidic Ichor)

• 2x .45 Automatic --> 2x Death • XIII (Note: We get Death • XIII after we upgrade Strange Solution so that we don't lower our fighting potential -after you upgrade it it acts as you 4th and 5th weapon, so you don't need .45 Automatic anymore)

Optional

There are a lot of options with what to do your XP after that point. You can really buy whatever you like, but here are some options:

• Emergency Cache (3) adds more supplies to Acidic Ichor.

• Deciphered Reality is very good when you can play it at 2 cost (from the Hunch deck).

• No Stone Unturned (5) is not really necessary because we have Mr. "Rook", but it's amazing when it's free and it can also help another investigator.

• Glimpse the Unthinkable is a nice and fun way to fill your hand. Joe basically plays like a Guardian and all Guardians welcome the extra card draw.

• Cryptic Research is another nice source of card draw for you or another player. It can replace Preposterous Sketches.

• Magnifying Glass (1) allows you to juggle it so that you don't lose it when you unequip Detective's Colt 1911s.

• Vicious Blow (2) for more damage.

Piloting

The deck is very simple to run so there isn't much to tell here:

• Keep one hand for a weapon and your second for a Magnifying Glass. If you have Detective's Colt 1911s you can have both Magnifying Glasses in play (obvious, but well you know, just saying).

• Use Beat Cop's ability a lot. After you get Mr. "Rook" and Hallowed Mirror on the table, you can simply heal him with Soothing Melody.

• Your "weapons" have limited uses. Use Mr. "Rook" to dig for new ones when the ones you 're using become empty.

• Calling in Favors generally provides great value in this deck. Both your allies are reusable and lifting them while keeping the slot occupied can be very valuable. It can also be used to dig for Mr. "Rook" while you have Beat Cop on the table and not Mr. "Rook" in play or in your hand.

• Use the skill cards to withstand treacheries. With Beat Cop and Death • XIII, you will very consistent on combat and investigation, so you will not need them for that very much. Save Logical Reasoning for Frozen in Fear. Dig for it with Mr. "Rook" when you need it.

The Hunch Deck

The hunch deck consists of:

• 2x Scene of the Crime
• 2x Working a Hunch
• 2x Evidence!
• 2x Preposterous Sketches
• 1x No Stone Unturned
• 1x Truth from Fiction (2 free secrets on Mr. "Rook"?? Sign me up!)

Crack the Case and Logical Reasoning should never go into your hunch deck. These 2 cards need to be in your hand so that you have more control over the timing of playing them and you need to have them when you need them. If you make any upgrades on Insights you should replace relevant cards. For example if you get Deciphered Reality replace Scene of the Crime or Evidence!. If you get Glimpse the Unthinkable replace No Stone Unturned or Preposterous Sketches. But at any case, keep Crack the Case and Logical Reasoning out of the hunch deck.

Side Note: The XP requirement of this deck is quite low (as soon as you get the mandatory upgrades you 've got all the power you need) so this deck is suitable for all sorts of campaigns. If you play in Dunwich, instead of removing .45 Automatic for Death • XIII, remove Enchanted Blade. That's so that you have less trouble dealing with Avian Thrall and Conglomeration of Spheres.

And... that's all folks! Hope you liked the deck! If you try it out let me know how it went! :)